Fighting For Our Schools

Produced by: 
The Philadelphia Student Union
Year: 
2001
Duration: 
00:12:00

Individual Film Price:

Higher Education Institutions & Government Agency DVD | $49.95
K-12 & Public Libraries DVD | $49.95
Home Video DVD License – Restrictions Apply | $5.95

 

 


Community Visions Compilation Price:

This video is available for purchase as part of a Community Visions Vol. 9 compilation DVD.

Higher Education Institutions & Government Agency DVD | $139.00
K-12 & Public Libraries DVD | $79.00
Home Video DVD License – Restrictions Apply | $20.00

 

 


Scribe Video Center Program:

The Community Visions program teaches documentary video-making skills to members of community organizations in Philadelphia, Chester and Camden (NJ). A powerful way to document community concerns, celebrate cultural diversity, and comment on the human condition, Community Visions is a part of Scribe’s mission to explore, develop and advance the use of video, film, audio and interactive technology as artistic tools and as tools for progressive social change.

 


Project Facilitators: L Leak and J McClenning

 


Film Summary:

This video is a buoyant profile of the Philadelphia Student Union (PSU), a city-wide organization of public high school students who advocate on behalf of all students in policy discussions about public education. Conceived by the students as an organizing tape and produced collaboratively with the Scribe Video Center as part of its Community Visions program, the video highlights some of the most important campaigns of the student-led group. PSU still uses the video as an organizing tool to reach new students in the district and encourage them to join the union.

The Philadelphia Student Union was started by a group of young people angry about the low quality of education in their schools and eager to do something about it. In 1995 a group of twelve students convinced the White Dog CafÈ to sponsor a leadership development program. After a year of building organizing skills, the students decided they were ready to start the Student Union, and it became a project of the White Dog's new non-profit, Urban Retrievers. In 1996, one of the Student Union's founders became Urban Retrievers' director and youth organizing became Urban Retrievers' total focus. Since that time, the Student Union has remained a youth-run organization committed to fighting for a high-quality education for all young people.

 

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

November 19, 2001 | Part of Community Visions Premiere at Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia, PA)

February 6, 2002 | Part of "Documenting the History of African-American Life: The Work of - Louis Massiah" screenings at University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)

September 6, 2002 | Part of Street Movies screening at Wingohocking Park (Philadelphia, PA)

December 3, 2002 | Broadcast on WYVE TV's Through the Lens 12 (Philadelphia, PA)

February 2004 | Part of Art Sanctuary's 20th Annual Celebration of Black Writing (Philadelphia, PA)

 


Film Stills: